Maps of Music

All Eyez on Me (1996)

Where the lyrics of All Eyez on Me take you, and where it was really made.

The album was first titled Euthanasia, and the title changed during recording. It was also the last album 2Pac released in his lifetime.

Key places

Re-recording of I Ain't Mad at Cha (1996)

Recording site Can-Am Studios — The new version of I Ain't Mad at Cha, released as a single after Shakur's death, was recorded at Can-Am Studios. Conley Abrams is named as the person who recorded it there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• All Eyez on Me: fourth studio album by 2Pac, and the final album released during his lifetime
• Released February 13, 1996 by Death Row and Interscope Records
• Distribution handled by PolyGram; the only Death Row/Interscope release distributed through PolyGram in the United States
• Double album produced by Shakur with DJ Quik, Johnny J, Dr. Dre, DJ Bobcat, Dat Nigga Daz, Mr. Dalvin, DJ Pooh, DeVante Swing and others
• Mixed by DJ Quik
• Guests include Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Redman, Method Man, Nate Dogg, Kurupt, Daz Dillinger, E-40, K-Ci & JoJo, and the Outlawz
• Released seven months before 2Pac's death

Background

• October 1995: Suge Knight and Jimmy Iovine paid the $1.4 million bail that freed Shakur from Clinton Correctional Facility, on sexual abuse charges
• Shakur was broke and could not post bail himself
• Release followed an agreement that Shakur would make three albums under Death Row Records
• This double album fulfilled part of the new contract as the first two of the three albums
• The album was first titled Euthanasia
• Originally intended for a Christmas 1995 release, but pushed back while Shakur kept recording and shooting videos
• Lyrics move away from the social and political consciousness of 2Pacalypse Now, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..., and Me Against The World
• Themes: living in poverty and in luxury, with a gangsta rap focus

Recording

• Most songs produced by Johnny J and Daz Dillinger
• Dr. Dre produced California Love and appears on it as a guest
• DJ Quik produced, mixed, and appeared on the album, but credited under his real name because of his Profile Records contract
• Heartz of Men samples a portion of Richard Pryor's comedy album That Nigger's Crazy
• Guest spots from former Thug Life members, The Outlawz, Tha Dogg Pound, George Clinton, and others

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born June 16, 1971 in East Harlem, New York City, to Black Panther Party members Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland.
• Raised by his mother; moved to Baltimore in 1984 and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts.
• Moved to Marin City, California in 1988.

Career

• Debuted as 2Pac on Digital Underground's 1991 single "Same Song" under Interscope Records.
• Debut album 2Pacalypse Now (1991) established him as a central figure in West Coast hip-hop.
• Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) and Me Against the World (1995) brought critical and commercial success.
• All Eyez on Me (1996), the first hip-hop double album, produced two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, "California Love" and "How Do U Want It".
• Also acted in films including Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), and Above the Rim (1994).
• Died September 13, 1996, after a drive-by shooting in Paradise, Nevada; the 2026 trial convicted Duane Davis of orchestrating the murder.

Legacy

• Record sales exceed 75 million worldwide.
• Inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame (2002) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2017).
• Awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• LA Times: Cheo Hodari Coker praised it as a 27-song, 133-minute gangster album, saying jail time only made 2Pac's creative fire burn hotter
• Entertainment Weekly: David Browne praised the production, including Egyptian-snake-charmer keyboards and police whistles used musically, and called 2Pac the hardest-working ex-con in showbiz
• NME: Roger Morton called it musical psychotherapy and a grittier, nastier record than Me Against the World
• Spin: Sue Cummings found honesty and pleasurably twisted scenarios, as long as listeners did not expect philanthropy
• The New York Times: Jon Pareles called it typical gangsta-rap fare with superior production, noting more rhymes about luxury than hardship
• The Guardian: found too much of the two hours taken up by self-justifying rants, though with some delicious g-funk
• Rolling Stone: Laura Jamison compared it to a Cali thug-life version of The Wall and said its all-hard tone approaches caricature

Reappraisal

• AllMusic: Steve Huey called it a monumental epic with the best production 2Pac had on record, and his magnum opus
• Pitchfork: Paul A. Thompson called it an exhaustive survey of Tupac's mind at the most harrowing time of his life
• The Source: in 2002 gave a perfect five mics, though it had not reviewed the album at release
• XXL: in 2007 gave its maximum XXL rating in a retrospective issue

Records

• Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 566,000 copies in the first week
• Second number one album for 2Pac on the chart
• Charted on the Billboard 200 for 105 weeks in total
• As of September 2011, sold 5,887,630 copies in the United States, 2Pac's highest-selling album
• RIAA diamond certification in 2014, counting each disc of the double album separately
• UK: BPI silver on January 1, 1997, gold on July 22, 2013, platinum on November 14, 2014
• Posthumously won the 1997 Soul Train Music Award for Rap Album of the Year
• Posthumously nominated for Best Rap Album at the 39th Grammy Awards in 1997
• Shakur won Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 1997 American Music Awards
• Ranked number 436 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was first called Euthanasia, and the title changed to All Eyez on Me during the recording process.
• Shakur explained the title to MTV's Bill Bellamy in December 1995 by saying that he felt watched by police, the Feds, and people who wanted to harm him.
• The Heartz of Men sample comes from Richard Pryor's comedy album That Nigger's Crazy.
• DJ Quik had to use his real name in the credits because of his Profile Records contract.
• In 1997, anti-rap activist C. Delores Tucker sued 2Pac's estate over lyrics naming her; the case was dismissed in 2001.
• The album was released as a double album under a three-album contract that Shakur signed with Death Row Records after his release on bail.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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